Farming & Agriculture

For more than 200 years, the Lachlan region has been an agricultural heartland – with a proud history of sheep and cattle farming and grain crops (including wheat, oats ad barley).

Spend just a short while at Lake Cargelligo’s outdoor displays of antique farm machinery and equipment (including steam engines!) and you’ll get an understanding of how far back its history stretches. Of course, the giant silos dotting the landscape are also a nod to the importance of crops to this region.

But it wasn’t always this way. For most of the 1800s, it was all about driving cattle and sheep stock, but the 1800s saw the first fruit and wheat cultivation – helping to grow Condobolin as a service town. By 1900, only 2700 acres of 1,000,000 was under wheat, but that would all change with the creation of dams and the arrival of the railway, as surrounding regions became part of the ‘cereal belt’ feeding a hungry nation.

In later years, crops have diversified to include canola and cotton – with Lachlan Shire being the centre of innovation in farming in dry conditions. The 1722ha Condobolin Agricultural Research and Advisory Station was founded in 1913 and today provides important insights on improving yields and soil fertility as well as combating weeds, disease, frosts and drought. It also conducts dryland cropping research year round on wheat, barley, canola, field peas, lentils, chickpeas, lupins and pastures. The Research Station is available to visit by appointment on weekdays.